The well-known three pillars of two-factor authentication are what you know (i.e. In times when online criminals and governments can bypass even two-factor authentication, trusting your second factor to the same device you want to protect is not the best solution. In this post, we will try to explain why a hardware second factor solution is a good option and will guide you through the features of our flagship product, the Hideez Key, which makes hardware MFA an effective and easy to use solution for such cases.Īn external device is a true second factor, in fact - one of the multiple factors required to feel secure in modern cyberspace So, why still bother with old-school hardware authentication tokens that require carrying yet another object around? Screenshot of Google Authenticator on Android Smartphone. cross-platform Google Authenticator) brought have carrier-independent 2FA to mobile platforms using TOTP and HMAC software algorithms. In the early 2000s, banks, online stores and services introduced a telecom version of 2FA based on SMS containing a one-time password (OTP). The modern use of MFA for securing computer records and online accounts originated in the banking sector, the typical example being cash withdrawal from an ATM, which requires having a banking card and knowing your PIN. For example, in the Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, d’Artagnan receives a ring from Queen Anne of France in addition to the spoken instructions he needs to use to communicate to the Duke of Buckingham in order to warn the Duke that Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter are plotting to kill him. The military and elite have used MFA for centuries. However, enabling MFA or 2FA does not mean your account is automatically secure. Multi-factor authentication (MFA, sometimes simplified as ‘two-factor’ or 2FA) has been proven to be an effective tool for enhancing the security of online accounts. Identity theft is not the only crime that walks hand in hand with hacked passwords and compromised online accounts: credit card fraud, blackmail, privacy invasion and illegal wiretapping all occur frequently throughout the world. The situation is similar in Europe and other countries. Over 60 million Americans have had their online identity exposed by hacks of the customer databases of their service providers or government agencies.

In the United States, about 19% of the adult population has experienced identity theft.

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